The present invention relates to a spacer for reinforcement mats within a framework, having a spacer bar to which there is fastened at least one double-leg clamp whose legs define a substantially U-shaped opening adapted to the cross-sectional dimensions of a bar of a reinforcement mat, said opening having associated with it a spring barrier which closes the opening and holds the clamp in non-detachable manner on the bar of the reinforcement mat.
Such spacers are used, for instance, in vertical reinforcements to hold two reinforcement mats a predetermined distance apart and at the same time make certain that the reinforcement mats in their turn are at the correct distance from the form boards. In an embodiment known from West German Utility Model No. GM 7 732 466, two clamps are fastened at a predetermined distance from the two ends on the spacer bar which bears plastic caps at its ends, said clamps being formed by bending spring wire into substantially U shape. The spacer is placed with these clamps on corresponding bars of the two reinforcement mats which are to be held spaced apart; in order to hold it in non-detachable manner the ends of the wire clamps are bent inwards so that a spring barrier is obtained which closes the opening which is defined by the two legs of a clamp.
These spacers have proven excellent in practice but their load-carrying capacity is limited since the legs of the wire clamps may be bent open under the action of larger forces, which can be prevented only to a limited extent even by increasing the diameter of the wire, which in any event would be possible only to a certain degree. Furthermore, the wire clamps, which consist of spring steel, are fastened by spot welding to the spacer bar which is formed from simple, cheap, unalloyed carbon or structural steel. Such a rational weld connection is, however, possible only up to a certain diameter of the wire material of the clamps. More expensive methods of welding, however, cannot be used, if only for the reason that spacers are mass-production articles which must be manufactured at low cost.